Soprano Karen Slack Announces 2025/2026 Season Highlights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
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Soprano Karen Slack Announces 2025/2026 Season Highlights

Continuing the International Tour of Highly Acclaimed Commissioning Project African Queens, Including Portland Opera’s Season Opener

Orchestral Version of African Queens Premieres at the Naples Philharmonic

Performing Selections from Her GRAMMY®-Winning Debut Album, Beyond the Years, at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Yale School of Music, Amherst College, Spivey Hall, Back Bay Chorale, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Performing the World Premieres of Brittany J. Green’s Letters to America with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Kathryn Bostic’s Drag at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and a New Work by Tamar-kali with the Miró Quartet at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Arizona Friends of Chamber Music

Appearances with the Orlando Philharmonic and Chamber Music Cincinnati

“...one of opera’s strongest voices at present — both as a singer and a shaper of its culture.” — The Washington Post

www.sopranokarenslack.com 

New York, NY (August 18, 2025) – As part of her exciting 2025/2026 season, “feisty, rich-voiced soprano” (The New York Times) Karen Slack will be featured in a range of programming, including multiple world premieres, featured operatic roles, prominent recital performances, and more. This season, Slack continues to perform her highly acclaimed commissioning project African Queens, including a season-opening performance with Portland Opera. An orchestral version is in development, with the world premiere to be presented by the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida. Slack will also perform world premieres of Brittany J. Green’s Letters to America for Soprano and Orchestra, part of the American Composers Orchestra’s program at Carnegie Hall; Kathryn Bostic’s Drag, which celebrates the life of Gladys Bentley at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and Tamar-kali’s new work, Pleasure Garden, with the Miró Quartet at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Slack also appears with the Orlando Philharmonic and Chamber Music Cincinnati, as well as presenting recitals and selections from her GRAMMY®-winning debut album Beyond the Years at Yale School of Music’s Oneppo Chamber Music Series, Amherst College, and Spivey Hall. 

On Saturday, September 13 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM, Karen Slack brings her spectacular new recital, African Queens, to the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts at Portland Opera. This brilliantly curated program of world premiere commissions reflects the beauty, humility, passion, and power of seven iconic queens through eight new songs written for Slack by some of today’s most acclaimed composers: Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, Will Liverman, and Joel Thompson, with text by Lorene Cary, Alicia Haymer, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, and Creative Collaborator for the African Queens project Jay Saint Flono. In this season-opening performance, Slack, who is also Portland Opera's Artistic Ambassador, performs carefully selected pieces from the traditional repertoire in this captivating vocal recital.

The genesis of African Queens was birthed during the pandemic when Slack hosted an episode of her #kikikonversations YouTube show, inviting these composers for a Composers Roundtable moderated by composer Terence Blanchard. Each new vocal work focuses on a different queen, and the connective tissue between each story and song will be woven together through interspersed narrative text. Queens celebrated in this project include the Queen Mother of the Zulu Nation, Amanirenas- Kingdom of Kush, Ufua (Akhilomen) of Uromi in Esanland in the southern part of Nigeria, Nzingha- Queen of Ambundu/Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba, Queen of Sheba, Aminatu Zaria (Nigeria), and Nanny of the Maroons, Jamaica.

The world premiere of the orchestral version of African Queens will be presented by the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida on January 8, 2026 at 7:30 PM and January 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM, conducted by Alexander Shelley in Hayes Hall. The program also includes Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

In July 2024, Slack released her debut album, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, in collaboration with ONEComposer and pianist Michelle Cann on Azica Records. Beyond the Years is an opportunity to connect historically excluded musical legacies with present-day artistic excellence, motivated by the woman who first inspired this initiative: Florence Beatrice Price. The album, comprising 19 unpublished songs of Florence Price, includes 16 world premiere recordings highlighting Price’s oeuvre and affinity for themes of faith, nature, love, and loss. The album won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, making history as the first album comprised entirely of the works of a Black composer to win the award. For the third and final installment of her three-part series, Slack, who served as Lyric Unlimited’s Artist-in-Residence for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2024/25 Season, presents Beyond the Years on Saturday, September 27 at 3:30 PM at First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple. Slack also presents selections from Beyond the Years at Amherst College on Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM on the Music at Amherst Series at Amherst College in Buckley Recital Hall, Yale School of Music’s Oneppo Chamber Music Series on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM, and Back Bay Chorale on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM for the choir and orchestra’s 50th anniversary season. Later in the season, Slack will perform at Spivey Hall at Clayton State University on Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM with pianist Michelle Cann in another recital program inspired by Beyond the Years. 

On Sunday, October 19, 2025 at 3 PM at Seully Hall, Slack offers a masterclass for students of voice and opera at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Vocal Arts Department. Slack will also be performing an intimate evening of song as part of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Opera Innovators Series in partnership with the Boston Lyric Opera on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 7 PM at Seully Hall. 

This season, Slack performs the world premiere of award-winning composer of film, TV, and Broadway Kathryn Bostic’s new work, Drag, which celebrates the life of Gladys Bentley, at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM. Celebrated conductor Marin Alsop leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra during this program, which features Slack performing Bostic’s homage to Bentley, a blues singer of the Harlem Renaissance. Bostic’s accolades include being the first female African-American score composer to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

Next, Slack and the Miró Quartet perform the world premiere of genre-defying, Brooklyn-based composer Tamar-kali’s Pleasure Garden with the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 7:30 PM at the Leo Rich Theater, as part of Tucson Desert Song Festival. Tamar-kali’s new work, co-commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, sets texts centered on the inspirational poetry of women of the Harlem Renaissance. Following that, on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM, Slack and the Miró Quartet perform the Philadelphia premiere of Pleasure Garden—which is a Philadelphia Premiere/Philadelphia Chamber Music Society co-commission—at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center at Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. As part of the Kardon Chamber Music Series, which offers the world's finest quartets and chamber ensembles, this program also includes excerpts from master works by Samuel Barber and Florence Price. Tamar-kali’s new work spotlights Philadelphia’s own Slack for this much-anticipated local premiere. 

Finally, on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM, Slack performs at the American Composers Orchestra’s program Hello, America: Letters to Us, from Us at Carnegie Hall for the world premiere of Brittany J. Green’s Letters to America for Soprano and Orchestra. Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Hello, America: Letters to Us, from Us focuses on artists’ musical open letters to America, which reflect narratives around the summer homes of turn-of-the-century Black folk, dreams, rituals of celebration, and the connection between the historic and current patriotism of Black American women. Letters to America is a multi-movement work for soprano and orchestra that offers a fresh, emotionally charged perspective on the American narrative. Created by composer Brittany J. Green and soprano Karen Slack, the project explores the country's founding principles and historic documents through the lens of personal letters and texts gathered from women today. The result is a moving musical journey that speaks to our shared history and the power of individual voice. This concert is part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America, a 250 citywide festival from January through July 2025.

Additional engagements scheduled for Slack’s 2025-2026 season include a performance of Florence Price’s songs at Chamber Music Cincinnati on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Plus, performances with the Orlando Philharmonic on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 2:30 PM at Steinmetz Hall, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Eric Jacobsen conducting. 

 

Karen Slack 2025/2026 Season Highlights

Saturday, September 13 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Portland Opera Presents Karen Slack: African Queens

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts | Beaverton, OR

Link: www.portlandopera.org/performances-tickets/25-26-season/karen-slack-african-queens/ 

 

Dave Ragland – Precatio

Carlos Simon – Behold, The Queen

Dave Ragland – The Queen of Sheba

Jessie Montgomery – The Song of Nzingah

Fred Onovwerosuoke – Luwah (Bitter Tears)

Shawn Okpebholo – A Letter From Queen Ufua

Fred Onovwerosuoke – Duniya (Mystic Universe)

Jasmine Barnes – I Am Not Your God

Will Liverman – A Prayer

Joel Thompson – Queen Nanny's Lullabye

Damien Geter – Amanirenas

 

Saturday, September 27 at 3:30 PM

Lyric Opera of Chicago Presents Beyond the Years 

First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple | Chicago, IL

Link: www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2024-25/beyond-the-years/  

 

Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Amherst College Department of Music Presents Karen Slack 

Buckley Recital Hall | Amherst, MA

Link: www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/music/events/node/928994 

 

Florence Price – String Quartet No. 1 in G Major 

Florence Price – Beyond The Years

Florence Price – Bright Be The Place

Florence Price – There Be None

Florence Price – Pittance

Florence Price – Winter Idyl

James Lee III – A Double Standard 

Shawn Okpebholo – Oh! Freedom! 

Moses Hogan –  Crucifixion  

Hall Johnson – Le’s Have A Union 

Margaret Bonds – You Can Tell The World from Five Creek-Freedman Spirituals

Antonin Dvorák – Quartet in A-flat major, Op. 105

 

Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Yale School of Music’s Oneppo Chamber Music Series Presents Karen Slack

Morse Recital Hall | New Haven, CT

Link: https://music-tickets.yale.edu/25998/25999 

 

Florence Price – String Quartet No. 1 in G Major 

Florence Price – Beyond The Years

Florence Price – Bright Be The Place

Florence Price – There Be None

Florence Price – Pittance

Florence Price – Winter Idyl

James Lee III – A Double Standard 

Shawn Okpebholo – Oh! Freedom! 

Moses Hogan –  Crucifixion 

Hall Johnson – Le’s Have A Union 

Margaret Bonds – You Can Tell The World from Five Creek-Freedman Spirituals

Antonin Dvorák – Quartet in A-flat major, Op. 105

 

Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM

Back Bay Chorale Presents Karen Slack 

Old South Church | Boston, MA

Link: https://bbcboston.org/current-season/bbc-at-50 

 

Tuesday October 21, 2025 at 7 PM 

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Presents Beyond the Years 

Seully Hall | Boston, MA

Link: https://bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/events 

 

Scott Nicholas, piano

 

Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Dallas Symphony Orchestra Presents Alsop Conducts Brahms

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center | Dallas, TX

Link: www.dallassymphony.org/productions/alsop-conducts-brahms/ 

 

R. Strauss – Don Juan

Kathryn Bostic – Drag [World Premiere]

Brahms – Symphony No. 2

 

Marin Alsop, conductor

Karen Slack, soprano

Lorene Cary, libretto

 

Friday, January 8, 2026 at 7:30 PM

Thursday, January 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM

Naples Philharmonic Presents New World Symphony with Karen Slack 

Hayes Hall | Naples, Florida 

Link: https://artisnaples.org/subscriptions/masterworks  

 

Jennifer Higdon — blue cathedral

Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson — African Queens for Soprano and Orchestra

Dvorák — Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”

 

Naples Philharmonic

Alexander Shelley, conductor

Karen Slack, soprano

 

Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 7:30 PM

Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Presents Miró Quartet with Karen Slack

Leo Rich Theater | Tucson, AZ

Link: https://arizonachambermusic.org/events/miro-slack/ 

 

Samuel Barber – String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 

William Grant Still – Songs of Separation (arr. John Largess)

Tamar-kali – Pleasure Garden [World Premiere, AFCM Commission]

George Walker – Lyric for Strings

Florence Price – Quartet No. 2 in A Minor 

Margaret Bonds – Creek-Freedman Songs

 

Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Clayton State University Presents Karen Slack and Michelle Cann

Spivey Hall | Morrow, GA

Link: https://spiveyhall.org/events/event/karen-slack-soprano-and-michelle-cann-piano/ 

 

Ravel: Deux Mélodies Hébraïques – Kaddish

Franz Schubert – Die Liebe hat gelogen

Franz Schubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade

Franz Schubert – Der Tod und das Mädchen

Florence Price – The Dawn’s Awake

Florence Price –  Bright be the Place

Florence Price – Ships that Pass in the Night

Florence Price – I Remember

Florence Price – Sacrament

Florence Price – Winter Idyl

Florence Price – Who Grope with Love for Hands

Florence Price – The Sum

Florence Price – Beyond the Years

Florence Price – There Be None

Florence Price – Youth

Florence Price – Spring

Florence Price – Pittance

Florence Price – What Do I Care for Morning

 

Karen Slack, soprano

Michelle Cann, piano 

 

Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 7:30 PM

Chamber Music Cincinnati Presents Karen Slack

Memorial Hall | Cincinnati, OH

Link: https://cincychamber.org/25-26-season-preview 

 

Ravel: Deux Mélodies Hébraïques – Kaddish

Franz Schubert – Die Liebe hat gelogen

Franz Schubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade

Franz Schubert – Der Tod und das Mädchen

Florence Price – The Dawn’s Awake

Florence Price –  Bright be the Place

Florence Price – Ships that Pass in the Night

Florence Price – I Remember

Florence Price – Sacrament

Florence Price – Winter Idyl

Florence Price – Who Grope with Love for Hands

Florence Price – The Sum

Florence Price – Beyond the Years

Florence Price – There Be None

Florence Price – Youth

Florence Price – Spring

Florence Price – Pittance

Florence Price – What Do I Care for Morning

 

Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Presents Miró Quartet and Karen Slack

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center | Philadelphia, PA

Link: www.pcmsconcerts.org/concerts/miro-quartet-karen-slack/ 

 

Samuel Barber – String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11 

Florence Price – Quartet in A Minor

Tamar-kali – Pleasure Garden [Philadelphia Premiere/PCMS Co-Commission]

Samuel Barberi – Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11

George Walker – Lyric for Strings

William Grant Still – Songs of Separation (Arr. for Soprano and Quartet)

David Taylor – Four Spirituals for Soprano and Quartet

 

Miró Quartet

Karen Slack, soprano

 

Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM

American Composers Orchestra Hello, America: Letters to Us, from Us

Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall | New York City, NY

Link: www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2026/03/11/american-composers-orchestra-0730pm 

 

Joseph Philips – We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident [ACO Commission, World Premiere]

Brittany Green – Letters to America [ACO Commission, World Premiere]

Kite – Wichíncala Šakówin [ACO Commission, World Premiere]

Shelley Washington – Haymaker [ACO Commission, World Premiere]

Jessie Montgomery – Procession [ACO Commission, World Premiere]

 

Karen Slack, soprano

Amanda Gookin, cello

Cynthia Yeh, percussion

Carolyn Kuan, conductor

 

Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 2:30 PM

Orlando Philharmonic Presents Karen Slack

Steinmetz Hall | Orlando, FL

Link: https://orlandophil.org/event/beethoven-symphony-no-9/ 

 

Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral”

 

About Karen Slack

Praised as "one of opera’s strongest voices at present – both as a singer and a shaper of its culture” (The Washington Post) and for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), soprano Karen Slack is a recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a 2025 MPower Artist Grant, Slack is a sought-after performer, curator, and artistic advisor known for her fiery charisma and groundbreaking approach to engagement. Her debut album, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price on Azica Records, won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Slack’s 2025-2026 season sees the continuation of nationwide touring for her critically-acclaimed African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens, including a season-opening performance with Portland Opera. An orchestral version of African Queens is in development, with the world premiere to be presented by the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida. Slack will also perform world premieres of Tamar-kali’s new work with the Miró Quartet for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; Kathryn Bostic’s Drag, which celebrates the life of Gladys Bentley at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and Brittany J. Green’s Letters to America for Soprano and Orchestra, part of the American Composers Orchestra’s program Hello, America: Letters to Us, from Us at Carnegie Hall. She also appears with the Orlando Philharmonic, Chamber Music Cincinnati, and Spivey Hall, and presents selections from her GRAMMY®-winning album Beyond the Years at Yale School of Music’s Oneppo Chamber Music Series and Amherst College. 

In her 2024-2025 season, Slack performed the world premiere of African Queens at the Ravinia Festival, along with performances at co-commissioners Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, 92NY, Washington Performing Arts, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, University of Toronto, and Newport Classical Festival. The program weaves historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, Joel Thompson, and Will Liverman, along with carefully selected traditional repertoire, further illuminated through passages of spoken text and thematic artwork. She also performed recitals and outreach events as the Lyric Unlimited Artist-in-Residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago, served as Artist-in-Residence at Babson College, and appeared with the Fresno Philharmonic, Arizona Opera, Austin Symphony, and a tour of South Africa with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra.

In July 2024, Slack released an ambitious new recording project, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, with pianist Michelle Cann in collaboration with ONEcomposer. The album comprises the unpublished songs of Florence Price, highlighting Price’s affinity with themes of faith, nature, love, and loss, and was accompanied by long-overdue published editions of Price’s music. Beyond the Years won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, making history as the first album comprised entirely of the works of a Black composer to win the award. In 2025, Slack was featured on Shawn Okpebholo’s album Songs in Flight (Cedille Records), which explores the untold stories of runaway enslaved individuals over 12 songs with texts by poets Tsitsi Jaji, Crystal Simone Smith, and Tyehimba Jess.

In the 2023-2024 season, Slack made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Ah, Perfido! Op. 65 at David Geffen Hall and performed as a guest artist with Chamber Music Detroit, where she gave masterclasses and headlined two programs: as a soloist in Of Thee I Sing, curated by Slack as a call for racial justice and an appeal to the healing power of love, and alongside the Pacifica Quartet in works by Beethoven, Price, and James Lee III – whose featured work, A Double Standard, was commissioned for Slack and the Quartet by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Detroit, and Shriver Concert Series. She also performed selections from the Great American Songbook at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Fabio Luisi. 

In the 2022-2023 season, Slack debuted with The Dallas Opera as Freia in Das Rheingold, Tosca at Edmonton Opera, and performed in the world premiere of Shawn Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight alongside singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Kimmel Center. She appeared in two separate world premieres by Hannibal Lokumbe, performing as a soloist with the Nashville Symphony (The Jonah People) and Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Trials, Tears, Transcendence: The Journey of Clara Luper). She premiered Jasmine Barnes’ Songs of Paul, a tribute to Paul Robeson, with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and was featured soloist in the premiere of Damien Geter’s Justice Symphony with the Fresno Symphony and The Washington Chorus. Slack made her Houston Grand Opera debut in the world premiere of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney's A Snowy Day and, in January 2022, was appointed Creative Partner with Brooklyn’s National Sawdust. 

Slack debuted the role of Billie in the 2019 world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and made her film debut portraying the Opera Diva in Tyler Perry’s movie and soundtrack For Colored Girls. In addition, she has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Austin Opera, New Orleans Opera, Minnesota Opera, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Madison Opera, and Arizona Opera, among others. 

When the pandemic limited live performances during the 2020-2021 season, Slack made virtual debuts with Houston Grand Opera, Madison Opera, and Minnesota Opera. She also starred in a new production of the opera Driving While Black, presented by UrbanArias, and launched a digital talk show, #kikikonversations, drawing acclaim from Opera News and The New York Times. She co-created and performed in #saytheirnames – Women of the Movement, a film recital and production in partnership with Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, performed in recital for Opera Philadelphia. Appearing alongside actor/narrator Liev Schreiber, she was featured in Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Speaking Truth to Power program, hosted by livestream platform Idagio.

Throughout her illustrious career, Slack has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder, and the Verdi Requiem with various orchestras throughout the United States. She was featured in her first performances of Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et la mer with the Omaha Symphony in collaboration with Opera Omaha. Abroad, she has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in celebration of the 80th birthday of conductor Yuri Temirkanov. Slack made her Carnegie Hall debut as Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Union Symphony Orchestra for Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder.

Over recent seasons, Slack has amassed a body of work reflecting her dedication to premiering works by living composers, with particular focus on using her platform to elevate works by Black artists. Slack is an Artistic Advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. She has been named Lyric Unlimited Artist-in-Residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-2025 season, as well as Artist-in-Residence at the leading entrepreneurial institution, Babson College.

A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, as well as the Adler Fellowship and the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. She is the winner of numerous competitions and awards – most notably the Montserrat Caballé International Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, George London Foundation Award, Marian Anderson ICON Award, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, Portland Opera Lieber Award, Liederkranz Foundation Award, and the Jose Iturbi International Competition for Voice. For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com.

*Photo Credits: Kia Caldwell

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